FYI, I noticed the SSE binary in the aoTuV b5.7 bundle (post #121) declared itself b6.03. Because the bitrate is consistent with the other compiles in the bundle I'm guessing it's just a typo.

It's worth mentioning that Vorbis doesn't have drastic bitrate variance when compiler options change. When I posted the average bitrate in the above table it really means each individual file had the same bitrate, respective of the builder+compiler.

It seems there are decoding related changes since then. Also things like "Corrections to the specification" or "Fix a numerical instability in the edge extrapolation filter" which I don't know if are relevant or not. So staying with an old version isn't a good idea.

How did you do the merge? Comparing Lancer against AoTuV 5, then AoTuV 5 to 6, or libvorbis (and co.) 1.1.2 to 1.3.3, and patching in in unchanged parts?

Did you try creating new SSE code? If there are clear cases of calculations done on arrays, is it necessarily difficult?

we cant get an intel compiler build with AVX support because intels compiler blocks non-intel chips from getting AVX code paths sadly, but FMA could have a beneficial effect on encode performance I would think

Yes. As vorbis himself. Xiph developing another codec "opus". Welcome, new abandonware. For people who support vorbis nothing remains except "thanks". Fate of many open source projects, lack of interest.

Yes. As vorbis himself. Xiph developing another codec "opus". Welcome, new abandonware. For people who support vorbis nothing remains except "thanks". Fate of many open source projects, lack of interest.

Tuning is boring? Start new project.

How about wide hardware support? I'm not sure if the opus will get it even in next 2 years. That's nonsense (to close Vorbis project). Also AFAIK Opus has more targeting onto low latency and low bitrate (of course not without a cost of quality loses for simple file encoding at medium bitrates).